Finale, finally

Excitement, disappointment, enthusiasm, ennui. The full range of emotions came into play on the final weekend of Upward basketball. Both of our teams entered today's showdown with nothing more than personal pride on the line. The Lady Spartans were seeking an undefeated season, and the Pacers were trying to finish with a winning record. At first, it seemed that Rachel's coach was resting his stars for the finale when Rachel began the game on the bench. She was just itching to get in the game, because she had the same incentive from Mom that she had last week. Alas, the result was also the same as last week. Poor Rachel was 0-5 from the floor and failed to earn her Skittles. She did pull down a season high 4 rebounds, and she adeptly dribbled the ball, which shows the huge improvements she has made since the season began. As a team, the Lady Spartans continued the impressive display the fans have come to expect. They held a 20 point lead at the half over the Lady Vols and cruised to an easy 44-32 victory. We really spread the wealth around on the offensive end today. Aishwarya contributed 4 points, and didn't even commit a double dribble violation, which is quite a significant event this season. The crowd pleaser was adorable Cara. She put up (what I suspect was a season, and possibly career high) 6 points. After each basket she jumped up at least 3 times with pure joy exuding from her face. Her infectious excitement brought a smile to whoever saw her, regardless of team allegiance. It was a fun, exciting way to finish off the season. Congratulations to the Lady Spartans for finishing 7-0-1 for an undefeated record.
Drew's Pacers had a little more incentive to play well today since they were shooting for a winning season. Thanks to last week's tie, they were .500 going in, so this game was the difference between a winning season or a losing one. They jumped out to a quick lead due to defensive brilliance and held the Bulls to a single point in the first 12 minutes. The Bulls returned the favor in the last period of the first half holding us scoreless while they put in 8 unanswered points to trail by only 3 at the half. That drought was undoubtedly caused by Drew spending the period on the bench. He continued to keep the bench warm in the second half, and for some reason he sat out for 3 consecutive periods. He reentered the contest for the final period of the season as part of what I felt was our best combination of five players. I suppose sitting an extra period was worth it to have that configuration on the floor to finish up. Drew didn't quite match Rachel's output for the day, as he only attempted 3 shots from the floor, missing them all, and only grabbed 2 boards. Of course, there is much more to offense than simply scoring points, and his presence obviously helped his teammates hang on for the decisive 39-22 victory. They ended the season with a bizarre streak intact. They were winless when wearing yellow jerseys, and undefeated while wearing the purple jerseys. Congratulations to the Pacers for the 4-3-1 season.
This was a fun season of basketball, and I am surprisingly disappointed to see it end. Rachel showed some real improvement in her game over the course of 8 weeks, and best of all, she had fun. Drew impressed me with his ability, showing a good head for the game, and a surprising level of aggressiveness when necessary. He also showed some improvement, and definitely had fun. He told me he didn't want his season to end. There should be some exciting games in the driveway this summer.

Do you believe in miracles!! YES!!

This may have been the most exciting day of basketball yet. We started a full hour before gametime with the crowd pleasing activity of team pictures. Both Drew and Rachel performed admirably. After pictures we faced our most daunting obstacle of the season. We had to figure out how to watch two games at the same time. We strategically positioned ourselves on the dividing line between the two courts and hoped for staggered periods on the bench from the kids. Rachel sat twice and Drew once. Naturally, the period Drew sat out, Rachel did too. Rachel started the day with a challenge from Mom: score a basket and get some Skittles after the game. Unfortunately, she only had one opportunity to score and her shot did not fall. This incident caused her much anguish after the game, as she was convinced that her teammates deliberately froze her out because they don't like her. Of course, she will have forgotten or at least forgiven the transgression by the time practice rolls around again and everyone will be friends once more. Rachel is showing signs of improvement in her basketball abilities. Defense has always come easily for her, and today the few times she got the ball she stayed calm and dribbled properly. The thing she is best at is throwing the ball in from out of bounds after a made basket. Nobody does it as well or as often as she. The Hoosiers presented no threat to our Lady Spartans and with the 44-36 victory we clinched at least a tie for first place with our fifth consecutive win.
Drew's Pacers met the Celtics in what was sure to be a mismatch, at least on paper. The Celtics were seeking their first victory of the season, while the Pacers sat at .500 on the year. Drew came right out of the gate en fuego with a huge first period. He poured in 6 of his team's first 10 points, all on offensive rebounds. The Pacers jumped out to an early lead but were unable to hang on to it and ended the half tied at 14. The halftime peptalk must have been a good one since the start of the second half was delayed while we waited for Drew's team to return. Perhaps it was because our head coach was in the other room taking team pictures, and the assistant lost track of time. Because it was picture day, we had a full roster, including all of our players who have some room for improvement. To start the second half, we played that group. The Celtics were able to pull away for a decent lead until a wild final period. We had closed the gap to two points when "Little D" got fouled in the act of shooting. The referees started to line up the players for a free throw when they realized that there was less than two minutes left in the game. According to the rules, that means they count the basket and possession goes to the other team. The game was now tied. The Celtics made the next shot to take the lead. With less than a minute to go in the contest, the Pacers made one more attempt to tie it up but missed the basket. Intentional fouls to stop the clock would be futile (see above), so all hope looked lost. Suddenly, unbelievably, inexplicably, with only a few seconds left in the game, one of the Celtic players heaved the ball towards the basket from a considerable distance. As time expired, the ball fell through the hoop. The referee confirmed that the player did in fact release the ball before the buzzer sounded, so the basket was good. Unfortunately for the still winless Celtics, he had thrown the ball at the wrong basket. We were able to snatch a 28-28 tie from the jaws of certain defeat. Drew played probably his best all around game of the season finishing with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal (a really sweet one), and one assist. He also made his first trip to the foul line, missing both attempts.
Note - "Little D" is called that not because of any lack of defensive ability on his part, but because his name is also Drew and he's the smaller one.

Faster, Higher, Stronger

The Olympics are here again, and I have to greet their return with a hearty, "So what?"! I realize I am in a small minority of people who really couldn't care less about the quadrennial athletic contests, and if they were discontinued altogether it would take me four years to notice. I think the Olympics make a great secondary program to flip to during commercials. I can't be totally alone in this viewpoint because one story I read mentioned how other networks are not conceding ratings to NBC this year and they are showing new programming to counter Olympic coverage.
The hype during the Olympic Games is off the charts, and mostly unmerited. During these two weeks stars are created, idols are elevated and heroes are worshiped. The trouble is that these athletes don't deserve our adulation during this stretch any more or less than they did during their training. Remember Apolo Ohno? He was the USA speedskating hope during the previous Olympics, and he delivered on his potential by winning gold. He's back, and he's trying to win another gold medal this time. During the last four years he didn't stop skating, but did we stop caring about him or stop paying attention to him? I haven't even heard his name in the last four years, but suddenly he's everywhere. I wish him good luck, but I don't care one way or the other if he wins. I don't think many people care if he wins or not, but we cheer him and others on pretending to be fans of the niche sports like speed skating or snowboarding when the reality is many events in the Olympics are things we didn't even know were sports. How many people in the world participate in curling? Ice dancing? Biathalon? I would guess the number is slightly higher than the number of Olympic participants in each sport. There is a USA speedskater (whose name escapes me) that took up the sport after watching the Games four years ago. This weekend he won a gold medal. To me, that doesn't speak so highly of his achievement as much as it speaks of the severe lack of competition in the sport of speedskating, that a relative newcomer can rise to the top in such a short amount of time.
Of course, the Story this week is the withdrawal and probable retirement of Michelle Kwan. She got on the Olympic team by the skin of her teeth on the strength of her reputation. In fairness to her, that reputation is spectacular. She is a nine time US champion and a five time world champion in figure skating, and she's won a silver and a bronze medal in previous Olympics. The Hollywood ending for this year would have been for Kwan to finally capture her elusive Olympic gold medal. Injuries have caused her to withdraw from competition, the result of which is a barrage of Michelle Kwan retrospective news features. She is being compared to the likes of Ernie Banks, or Dan Marino, or Karl Malone, those elite competitors who dominated their sports but never succeeded on their sports' "biggest stage". Granted, I don't hold her in such esteem because of my bias against her sport, but I still think such comparisons are ill conceived. Unlike Banks, she made it to the biggest stage. Unlike Marino, she made it several times. Judging her as a human being who has committed half her lifetime to competing at a world class level, I feel badly that she will be unable to take one more shot at her dream. Judging her as an inspirational object of praise or hero-worship, I think she falls short. She knew she was not fully healthy during qualifying for the US team. A little bit of politicking landed her on the team, and now she's going home having wasted her trip to Italy. Her spot is being filled by Emily Hughes, the younger sister of the 2002 Olympic champion, Sarah Hughes. She, of course, is very excited to join the team in Turin, but Kwan's selfish attempt to extend her career cost Hughes the experience of participating in the opening ceremony last week. Part of her Olympic Experience has been taken from her. She may return to future Games, she's only 17 after all, but there was no reason for her to not be on the team from the beginning. That isn't an inspirational story to me, it's a disappointing one. We the public should be just as excited for Hughes the rookie as we purport to be for Kwan the veteran.
The attempt here is not to denigrate MIchelle Kwan for pursuing her Olympic dreams. She has dedicated her life to achieving athletic success, and she wanted one more chance. If I were in her skates, I might do the same. My point is that her choices regarding the Olympics this year were self-serving, not inspirational. The hype machine put too much importance on her quest for Olympic gold for her to rationally consider her options. She is given too much credit for trying to tough out this failed attempt instead of being chastised for punishing the more deserving teammate by taking her spot. Both women deserved better than this episode has given them. Kwan deserved a hero's farewell for a wonderful career, but she is limping off into the sunset instead. Hughes deserved the full experience of her first Olympics. Before we all put our Olympic athletes on too high a pedestal, we would do well to remember that even though these are the Games, they are still just games.

Just wait until the Awana Games

Drew participated in the Awana Bible Quiz this morning. There were two rounds. The first was multiple choice where each team member is on his own. The second round is a fill-in-the-blank portion where the participants are paired up. He got 3 out of 8 correct in the first round and 4 of 8 right in the second round. That score earned him the Bible Quiz participation patch for his uniform.

The whole Kit 'n Caboodle

At today's Upward basketball games we welcomed the Bolingbrook Lemans. Uncle Dan, Aunt Jen, and cousin Kit were able to see some of the exciting brand of basketball we offer at Eastview. Today's games were all about padding statistics. The Lady Spartans had no trouble putting away the Lady Bulldogs easily 38-12, keeping a 3-to-1 scoring ratio for much of the contest. The Lady Bulldogs were unable to score until the last period of the first half, and didn't hit double digits until the last period of the second half. Rachel was able to keep her wits about her today which helped her contribute with a solid all-around performance. She missed her only shot attempt, but it was a good shot that drew iron and bounced away. She snatched two rebounds, handed out one assist, and made a great steal early in the game. Unfortunately, the steal was disallowed because she was playing illegal defense in the backcourt. Her only significant miscue was a traveling violation that came in the last period when she was handling the ball up on the point. The defense began to collapse on her and she pulled out a tap dance that would have made Arthur Murray proud. It wasn't enough to stop the Spartans from keeping their unblemished season intact.
The Pacers kept their own personal streak alive as they were done in by the cursed yellow jerseys. That, and the better play of the Suns. It was a game of streaks that started out low scoring, ended mildly, but had quite a flourish in the middle. Our big man, Luke hit a stretch for a few minutes where the basket must have seemed as big as a bathtub. It seemed like everything he threw up there found it's mark. Long distance, inside, outside, underhand layup, bank shot, swish, whatever, it went in. He got cheated out of two points simply due to the lack of a three point line. Perhaps he was warmed up due to the fact that we forgot to switch sides after halftime. It was an impressive run, but ultimately futile. He wasn't the only Pacer who played well, Dylan was a defensive dynamo and Drew was a rebounding machine. He finished with six boards to go with an assist and two steals. His second steal looked like a sure two points, but he outran the ball as he was dribbling up the court. He almost recovered enough to sink the shot, but missed it along with his previous three attempts to finish scoreless. The Suns prevailed 44-26 in our last game in the yellow jerseys.

Big news!!!

After a long wait, today at school Becca finally lost her first tooth!! She couldn't be more excited! We're hoping the Tooth Fairy brings some state quarters, since her collection is sparse. Watch this space for updates.

Super Bowl Predictions

Just for fun, I thought I would make my prediction on the Big Game.
Seattle will win the coin toss.
The first score will be a touchdown pass.
Final score, Steelers 35-27.
Jerome Bettis will be the MVP.

Basketball update week 5

The excitement level for today's games was certainly down a notch from last week's. Rachel had two referees for her game, and they called most of the violations, which meant there were a lot of turnovers. Rachel set a new career high. We played hard and didn't really have much of a challenge, winning 31-20. Rachel was 0 for 2 from the field, and that's generously calling them shot attempts. She tossed the ball in the general vicinity of the basket, but failed to hit anything. She plays with a high level of enthusiasm, but not a very high level of attention. While she is frantically running around the court attempting to "get open", she forgets to pay attention to the ball. When she does get her hands on the ball, panic overtakes her and she heaves the ball in what she hopes is the direction of her teammates or the basket. In the second half, she had a chance at an easy basket but got flustered and threw the ball away. She was slow getting back on defense and her teammate stole the ball and threw it ahead to Rachel. She was alone on the offensive end of the court with plenty of time to shoot, but she hurried and ended up chucking the ball directly into the basket stanchion, out of bounds. After the game she was awarded the long overdue award of "best defense". She was upset with her performance, but we know she tries very hard, and we're glad she can have fun playing.
Drew's game only had one official today, but he was a good one, so the game was pretty clean. The trouble was that we discovered that we're better at rugby than we are at basketball. Our most reliable shooter, Luke, was off his game today. It seemed that every shot was a wild one. In the 5th and 6th periods we had our biggest lineup on the floor, trying to make up some ground but we couldn't climb all the way back. We cut the lead to 6 points in the last period, but then the other team turned it on and put us away. The final was 31-43, but not really that close. Drew missed his only attempt from the floor. It was a pretty uneventful game. Drew's biggest worry is that his team has lost every game wearing yellow and won every game wearing purple, and next week they are yellow again.

End of an era

Why wasn't this a bigger news story? I think this is huge. After a century and a half, Western Union has sent their last telegram. The announcement was fittingly delivered by the medium that accelerated their demise, on the company's website.

"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative."

During their heyday, Western Union handled over 200 million telegrams a year. Last year that number fell to 20,000. I am sorry to see them go even though I have never sent nor received a telegram. Now I guess I never will.

The company is most famous not for a telegram it delivered, but for a letter. It was delivered to a Marty McFly on November 12, 1955 at the end of Back to the Future II.